That’s right boys and girls, the book is finally out.  Trust me, I’m as glad as you are.  I’ve got some exciting posts coming up about the writing and publishing process, and info on book signings and a launch party.  You can purchase the book from this site (if you want a signed copy) or from Amazon below.  Make sure you subscribe to the rss feed or email updates so you don’t miss a thing!

Guess what?  The time has come for the book to be released out to the wild.  ”In The Belly Of The Fail Whale” will be released on January 22nd, but you can order a copy now for pre-order only sales prices!  Go to the order page for more details. Psst.  It’s right HERE.  They’ll be more posting soon.  By me.  The guy who may or may not have pants on.

Very soon I will be seeing that view above in person for the first time.  I’m excited.  New Jersey rocks.

Today is Sunday.  No, I am not watching football.  I’m writing.  Actually, I’m updating my ToDo List before  I write, which, for those of you who need a good one for the Blackberry, is Taskjot and Toodledo (they work together).  I recommend it over all others, and trust me when I tell you that I’ve tried a lot.  Remember The Milk is good too, but the integration with the Blackberry is less than desired (it’s great for the iPhone, but AT&T sucks.)

I’m trying to finish up two more chapters to send to my marketing guru Ande Richards tonight.  Or early tomorrow morning, depending on when I stop writing.  I just didn’t want you people to think I forgot about you, or wasn’t giving you props.

I wanted to take a minute to thank all the Fail Whale Book supporters.  Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter or I know you in real life, thanks for asking and taking an interest in Le Book.  It means a lot.

This post was brought to you by Cute Is What We Aim For, who are the soundtrack of the hour.

The last few month that’s how I’ve constantly felt.  No matter how much I get done, or how much sleep I forgo, it’s never enough.  I sent The Plymouth Agency, who is handling my marketing and promotion for the book, 3 completed chapters today.  I’ve been working on the book in a way that’s different than, say, fiction.  Because the chapters are broken up by month, I’m able to work on them all simultaneously as I move through the last year of my life.  Today I closed up the first 3, aside from proofreading, they’re completed.  Now I’ve got to polish off the other 11 and the Follow Friday story in the next week.

It’s been a busy few months of scoring, I’m currently working on @jonathannail’s comedy sci-fi webseries “SOLO,” and I’m close to embarking on @HllywdEMB’s “A Note To Etienne.” I’m also doing freelance writing for the website LIFTr, which will be launching full-force soon.

The only way I can see to get all this work done is to stay awake from now until…. well, I’ll let you know when there’s a stopping point.

This feels like me today.  In the mouth of the whale, being chewed up.  It’s been a long week and a half, trying to make a run for the finish line with the writering part of the book.  Yeah, I just made that word up. @mikehalper said it was OK, and he should know, because he’s a professional screenwriterer.

There are exciting things coming to the site.  Updates, ordering information, giveaways, evil clowns… hold on, scratch that last thing, that’s author Jeremy Shipp’s thing.  Go tell him I said hi, he’s writering some great things right now.

A lot of this book is being written from my studio where I also write music.  I’ve also written a lot of it from @alliecine’s bed, hours and hours at a time.  In between riding mechanical bulls for fun.

When I’m not making a complete ass of myself (and trust me, it’s a full time job), I’m writering.  A lot.  In fact, why am I here talking to you people?  I have to get back to it.  If you’re bored, go buy some jewelry from @tocadora on her Etsy page.  Or go ask @JonathanNail when @SOLOtheSeries is coming out, and he’ll tell you when his composer gets off his ass and writes the score.

I came across this and thought “How cool would it be if ITBOTFW was a pop-up book?”  But since I claim I don’t wear pants often, that could be problematic, as the only thing I can think of that would pop-up is…. Anyway, how are all you book reading people doing?

The book is coming along well.  I’ve partnered with The Plymouth Agency to help with marketing and promotion, and Ande Richards has jumped on it faster than @jillyleigh on a cocktail.  We’re already working on a (are you ready)…. book signing in downtown Los Angeles in the beginning of February! Followed by a mixer!  Also, we’re talking with radio and print peeps to schedule interviews and giveaways!

Speaking of giveaways (no, I’m not talking about what @michbek does in her spare time), we’re giving away a signed copy of the book to the 500th follower on Twitter. If you’re not already following, you should be. You’re missing out on the arguments I have with the book in real time. Sometimes the book wins, it’s actually pretty mean. Also, lucky number 500 gets a custom tweet written about them inside the front cover. In blood. OK, not blood. Maybe mucus. Or ink. I haven’t decided. Go now and be a follower.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about the upcoming photoshoot with Raphe Wolfgang Photography, my meeting with Jennifer Beatty of Bandwagon Graphiks, how the LA Festival of Books fits into my plans, and some more information about the book.

Like the titles of the chapters.

SOOOOOOO. You want an exerpt from the book?  Really?  Are you sure?   Alright, fine.

Hello. Thanks for buying my book. Now that I have your money, the rest of this bloated monstrosity is going to be made up of volumes 1 -8 of the encyclopedia (Aardvark through The Plague) and a transcript from an episode of Who’s The Boss where there’s some sort of romantic misunderstanding between Tony and Angela. Enjoy.

You’re still here? Dammit, this is going to be harder than I thought. OK, fine. This is a book about me, which is kind of a self-centered topic, and slightly egotistical, but I’d read a book about YOU, so give me a little leeway. My name is Rob and I’m a composer for film & television. I joined Twitter a year ago in an attempt to expand my social network and meet new potential clients. A year later, I came away with far more than I ever thought possible, both personally and professionally. I went through a low I wasn’t expecting and a high I didn’t see coming, and I chronicled both on Twitter over the course of the year.

How, you ask? Why, you question? What, you say impatiently? Oh. NOW you’re interested in reading the book, huh? (Note to self: change the title of the book to “Crack” and sell it for twice as much). When I decided to write this book, I had three reasons for doing so. One, I wanted to share my story with others so that people might take some tidbit of information about the way I marketed myself on Twitter apply to their own lives. Two, I wanted a place to talk about the myriad of things I’ve gone through and done over the last 12 months (tweeting from the set of a feature film for 11 days, for instance), and maybe make one or two of you laugh. And Three, I wanted to educate people who aren’t familiar with Twitter on how the site works, what the community is like, and how to make the site and it’s people work for you, no matter what your business is. Even if you collect roadkill off the side of the road, you might be able to use Twitter to have your “peeps” inform you when there’s something dead in your vicinity. Just don’t ask me over for dinner. Unless it’s a cow.

One of the first things you’ll notice about this book is the frequent use of the “@” symbol, particularly with someone’s name following it. If you’re not familiar with Twitter, this is a person’s username. Mine is @RobGokeeMusic. If you purchased this book in eFormat, which I encourage you to do, you’ll see that every one of those @ names is clickable. I will be calling out individuals by Twitter name throughout the book. If you click on their username, you’ll get taken to their Twitter page. My hope is that, after you’ve read this book, you’ll join the site if you’re not already there and follow the people I talk about. If I mention them, it’s because I talk to them, read their words, and find them interesting in some way. Or, in the case of @aaronkaiser, I find their lack of pants in public interesting. (Just kidding, @aaronkaiser actually dresses better than I do when I daydream about dressing well for some event I wasn’t invited to but decided to crash for the free alcohol. I’m actually the one with the “pants” issue.)

Also, in the spirit of calling out my Twitter brothers and sisters (I say that because I’m going to pick on them mercilessly in this book, at least the ones dumb enough to sign a waiver), I will be including, within this book, a story of epic proportions with a cast of at least 1,775, the majority of them called out by name. When I’m done, you’ll have your own “search engine” of followers, and you’ll already know things about them that are most likely false, but funny. I kid them because I love them all, and they love me back. Some of them love me back in a way I’m not comfortable with, like @axisofphilippe, who has “boundary” issues. But I digress.

The end.  That’s all you get.  For now.

If I’m going to write a book, especially a book about myself, then there are some rules I need to follow.  As a “rule,” I tend to think there are too many rules in life as it is.  But in deciding to write this book about myself and Twitter, I knew that there were a few things I was going to have to follow for the good of the people.  What do you mean “What does that mean?”  I just write things, I’m not in charge of making sense, that’s a whole other department.  Talk to Phil, he runs things over in the Coherency Department.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve gone through a surge of scoring work from new (and exciting!! I’m required to add two “!” at the end of exciting per my contract with @JonathanNail and @SOLOtheSeries.  If I forget, I get flogged by @GinaYates, then berated by @JasonBurns while @alliecine shakes her head in disgust.  It’s a very complicated contract.) contacts, as well as gone through a breakup and a new (and Exciting!!  I’m required by @alliecine to add the extra “!” as well, and you don’t even want to know what happens if I don’t.  Let’s just say it involves jumper cables, a pack of Red Vines, a TV remote that doesn’t work, a bounce card and 4 and 1/4 index cards.) relationship.

I decided early on in the book planning stage, which consisted my laptop, coffee, and lots of “What was I thinking?!” moments followed by sobbing, that the book was about MY experience with Twitter, and what I had taken from it over the course of the year.  In many cases I will be calling out people by name, but only in a positive light.  My relationships will obviously be a topic of book discussion, but only in the general sense, and only about myself, not the other people involved.  Now, those of you who follow me on Twitter, especially if it’s been for over 6-8 months, will know a lot more than the book divulges, because I am pretty open on Twitter about my daily activities and feelings.  For those of you that want to know more after reading the book…. well, you’re just going to have to read all 17,000 + tweets to fill in the gaps.

That being said, In The Belly of the Fail Whale will be incredibly personal, probably the most personal I’ve ever been in public.  And funny, because no one is better at making fun of Rob than Rob, despite what @cartermason tells you.  He’s not a fan of pants.

Hi.  This is a blog, and a website, about a book that I’m writing.

What kind of book?

It’s a book about me.

I joined the website Twitter almost a year ago, as a composer for film and television looking for a new social networking opportunity to find work and meet directors and producers.  What I found there was that and so much more. In fact,

it changed my life.

The book is about the last 12 months of my life, and how Twitter played a role in one of the biggest changes I’ve ever experienced.  Don’t worry, it’s not all about being serious.  I am known for bringing on the funny, and I will be making fun of people I’ve met on Twitter.  Once they sign waivers.  You know who you are.  cough*@axisofphilippe*cough

The book is going to be incredibly personal in that it’s about me opening up to the world.  There will also be a #FollowFriday story to trump all #FollowFriday stories.  Epic.  People will die.  cough*@axisofphilippe*cough

This site will not only be THE place to find out where to buy The Book (which will include Amazon.com), which will be published as an eBook & in softcover, but will chronicle the writing of The Book.  And the inevitable frustration that will come with it.

So RSS the site now, and if you’re not already, follow me on Twitter.

Get ready for a ride.